Food products such as sliced luncheon meats, sliced cheeses and the like have long been packaged in trays having a lidstock cover. The trays can be pre-made trays made from various thermoplastic materials such as foamed polystyrene. Alternatively, trays can be formed from a web of thermoplastic material on the packaging machine at a food processing/packaging facility. The latter makes use of horizontal form/fill/seal equipment (such as thermoforming equipment) available from e.g. Multivac, for converting flat thermoplastic forming web into formed pockets to create trays for containing the food product. In either case, the food product is manually or automatically placed in the tray, a lidstock (also known as a non-forming web) is brought over the top of the filled tray, the filled tray is typically vacuumized or gas flushed, and the lidstock is hermetically sealed to the tray, e.g. by a perimeter heat seal on the tray flange, to finish the package. Opening of the finished package (i.e. opening with the use of tools such as scissors or knives) can provide access to the food product by the consumer. In some instances, a reclosable feature is included to permit the package to be easily reclosed, although typically not in a hermetic manner.
Food packagers often require that packages include an easy-open and reclose feature for the benefit and convenience of the consumer. Such a package is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 7,681,732 (Moehlenbrock et al.) issued on Mar. 23, 2010. This type of package is typically hermetic, and useful in packaging e.g. deli products in a way that offers a great number of easy-open/reclosable “events’, i.e. the number of times that the package can be effectively opened and reclosed. Additional manufacturing costs are incurred, however, in installing die cuts in the lidstock used to make this kind of package. Also, for certain types of products, and/or for e.g. smaller packages, where (in the case of a food product) the package contents are likely to be consumed in a short period of time, the need for a package that can be reopened/reclosed a great number of times is reduced. In some cases, the capability of only perhaps ten effective reopen/reclose cycles are required. There is therefore a need in the marketplace for a package that provides both a manually (i.e. by hand, without the need for tools such as scissors or knives) openable and reclosable feature, and optional hermeticity of the package when made, without the need for die-cuts to provide easy-openability, while still offering the capability of multiple reopening and reclosures of the package after it has been initially opened and closed.